The present invention relates to trap stands and more particularly to portable and adjustable trap stands.
In the sport of trapshooting, disks known as "clay pigeons" are designed to be projected through the air with the speed and flight trajectory comparable to that of a game bird and to fragment easily when struck by one or more pellets from a shooter's shotgun. The clay pigeons are projected or scaled through the air at speeds approaching sixty miles an hour by a mechanical device called a trap.
At gun clubs, expensive fully automatic magazine loaded traps (holding several hundred clay pigeons at each loading) are mounted in small sheds called trap houses. In regulation trap, shooters stand behind the trap house and when a shooter asks for a target, the trap throws a clay pigeon into the air at varying angles generally within an arc of 44.degree. opposite the shooting position. Skeet is a refinement of trap shooting which provides for clay pigeons being thrown from a high house (a trap house with the trap installed about ten feet above the ground) and a low house (where the trap is installed about two or three feet above the ground).
Another version of clay pigeon shooting is frequently referred to as a "quail walk" where traps are positioned along a path in a field. Clay pigeons are thrown by the traps as a shooter progresses along the path. Quail walks have the advantage of providing the shooter with a greater variety of shots and an element of surprise that is not available in the more restrictive formats of trap and skeet shooting. Because of the number of different traps required for a quail walk, and the inability to maintain any significant surprise when traps are mounted in trap houses, expensive fully automatic magazine loaded traps are generally not suitable for this version of shooting. Accordingly, less expensive traps adjustable to throw a wide variety of trajectories are desirable for quail walks. In addition, individuals desiring to practice clay pigeon shooting in their own fields or less formal settings frequently purchase inexpensive traps such as those made by Trius Products, Inc. or even hand traps by which one person propels the clay pigeons into the air for the shooter. The portable trap is preferable to the hand trap both because of the uniformity of its throw, and because it does not require the presence of an additional person in order for the shooter to practice. In both quail walks and other informal shooting it is desirable that the trap mounts provide for a wide variety of adjustments so that targets may be thrown along many diverse trajectories. It is also desirable that the trap mounts be easily and securely anchored so that a firm base is provided for the trap.
However, the art of mounting inexpensive and portable traps remains unsatisfactory as the current trap stands are expensive, require the presence of an additional person other than the shooter, or provide only limited or difficult adjustments to vary the throw of the clay pigeons.